Elmira Free Academy - Torch / Sagoyawatha Yearbook (Elmira, NY)

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The establishment of another secret sorority, the Alpha Sigma, during this year, brought up the question of school societies and led the Academycommittee of theBoardto decide that only open societies might use Academy rooms for evening meetings. The Alpha Sigma died out after a few years. - There was an increase of 90 in the enrolment, bringing the registration up to 646. In four years the school had out grown by a hundred, and in five years by nearly two hundred, the capacity of the building, which comfortably accommodates not more than 450. The chap- els were badly crowded. In November of 1897, Miss Herrick and six students organized the Kelvin Scientific Society, open to both sexes. This is an open society, meeting alternate weeks, devoting every third meeting to social purposes. At first, the meetings were held in the school building, but for some years they have been at the homes of members. This society has done earnest work along scientific lines. When school opened, December 8th, it was found that the Academy building had been robbed during the night. Burnt matches and cigar stumps were strewn through all the rooms. All teachers' desks had been ransacked and any keys found in them carried to the office to aid, if possible, in opening the office desk. These failing, it had been pried open and all the soap and towel fund, the desk money, and the magazine fund, amounting to between 20.00 and 30.00 dollars, had been stolen. Miss Norman's gold pen was also missing from her desk in lower chapel. , The class of '98 started the custom of a Senior play. On the evening of December 9, 1897, they gave two farces by john Kendrick Bangs, A Dramatic Evening and The Fatal Message. The entertainment was held in Park Church Play-room with an over packed house. In addition to the witticisms with which Bangs's farces are replete, Frank Curtin, who had the leading role, interpolated wit of his own that kept- the house in convulsions. The audience encored his original efforts so repeatedly that it was almost impossible to go on with the play. . The classes of '99 and 1900 did not present Senior plays, but 1901 did: then, with the exception of 1902, it has been an annual custom up to the present. The plays,,after '98's, have been as follows: 1901 A Letter of Introduction Park Church Play-room. 1903 The Rivals Auditorium Theatre. 1904 She Stoops to Conquer St. James Hall. 1905 London Assurance St. James Hall. 1906 A Scrap of Paper Rorick's Glen Theatre. 1907 The Prince Chap Rorick's Glen Theatre. This play brought out in the title role a prince of amateur actors, Albert H. Fox, now taking prominent parts on the professional stage in the Middle West, though lacking still a year of having experienced When We Were Twenty-One. 1908 The Half Back Rorick's Glen Theatre. 1909 The Elopement of Ellen Rorick's Glen Theatre. This is a musical comedy with picturesque songs and dances. At Christmas, 1897, as a token of their admiration and love, the Freshmen presented to Miss Norman, who was in charge of their chapel, a handsome revolving desk-chair, which femained upon the rostrum in lower chapel until Miss Norman's death, more than five years ater. New Year's evening, the class of '98 repeated the Bangs's farces in the Auditorium Theatre for the benefit of the Y. M. C. A., repeating also their,success. On the 29th of january, 1898, two members from the Gamma Chapter of the Lambda Sigma fraternity initiated eighteen charter members in E. F. A. as the Kappa Chapter. These same young men had had an organization, under various names, since jan. 16, 1896. The S. U. S. S. was started at that time in School No. 2. It consisted first of Messrs. Bennett, Mil- lard, Swan, and Gridley, later adding Messrs. Swift and Earle Hart. These six introduced the society into E. F. A., September, 1896. The name was subsequently changed to K. K. K., and later to Dodona. As Dodona, they hired St. Ursula Hall. Deciding to join some chaptered organization, they chose Lambda Sigma. Clubrooms were engaged in the Realty Building, soon after organization. Now the fraternity again occupies the St. Ursula Hall. Some remarkable records were made in the examinations of 1898. Miss Rena Rock-f well, a Freshman, finished the year with an average of 99 per cent. for the entire year's work. Isaac Levy of the graduating class had seven honor papers in june.. He had earned in four years a 100 count regents' certificate with honor 3 that is, in three fourths or more of the subjects his mark was above 90 per cent. That record has never been duplicated in E. F. A. He won the Cornell scholarship in june, and in the fall captured a 400.00 dollar cash prize in the Arts course at Cornell, against one hundred competitors, most of whom had taken a course in the Cornell summer school to prepare for the three days' examination that determined the scholarship. This record fcr an eighteen-year-old reflected great credit both upon himself and upon E. F. A. His sister, Miss Harriet M. Levy, won the scholarship to Elmira College the same year. Later she was a successful teacher in E. F. A. The fdotball team of '98 had a remarkable record, losing only one game, the last of the season, which would have given them the state championship. This defeat was doubtless due to the playing of an extra game that crippled the team just before the crucial game. En- 1896 1897 1897 1897 1897 1897 1898 1898 1898 1898

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1893 1894 1895 1895 1896 1896 1896 5 f john Ford Tremain. Chas. Alonzo Simmons and Thomas F. Fennell were shining lights in the discussions. All these have since made good the promise of their school days. . The first Class Day in the new building was celebrated Tuesday of Commencement week, instead of in May, as previously. E. F. A. Class Days have never been, as in colleges, open-air celebrations, and until 1903 were held in the evening. The one of 1893 took place in the new club room, the only one to be held there in its entirety. The tables for the banquet that followed the literary program were spread in the gymnasium across the hall, and carried in when needed. In '94, the Class Day exercises were held in the parlors of the Rathbun, the banquet following in the hotel dining room. Thereafter until 1903, the Class Day was observed at the Rathbun or the Langwell, either Tuesday or Thursday evening of Commencement week. To this rule, there was one exception, as the Class of '98 held their Class Day at Industrial Hall. With the graduation of the Class of '95, Prin. Lovell severed his connection with the Academy to take up the practice of law in this city. His administration was characterized by four things: the adoption of the Regents' standard for graduationg the erection of the new building, the introduction of the Rugby game in football, and the raising of the requirements for teachers to the standard of a college education. Although the law had always been Mr. Lovell's choice of a profession, he has never regretted the years of service he gave to the Academy. Her interests are still dear to him, and any teacher or student of E. F. A., past or present, has but to mention a service he could do, to meet with instant and hearty response. CHAPTER VIII. PRIN. EVANS'S ADMINISTRATION, 1895-1900. Mr. Charles W. Evans of the Olean High School succeeded Mr. Lovell as principal. Mr. Evans was a man of quiet manners, but of strong personality. He co-operated very fully with his faculty, placing great confidence in his teachers' judgment regard- ing individual students that came within the circle of their personal influence. With the beginning of 1895, the department of elocution was added to the curriculum. From earli- est days, there had been rhetorical exercises, at first with no drill except for Commencement, later with the drill of the English teacher, but there had been no attempt to have class instruction in elocution. This was now added, with Miss Mary K. Smith as instructor. She also ably assisted Miss Godfrey with the Freshman English. Lincoln's birthday, February 12th, was observed for the first time as a holiday in E. F. A. in 1896. On the fourteenth of February, the faculty enter- tained the school societies at a valentine party in the Club-room. Each society had already that school year entertained the faculty. Miss Godfrey of the faculty was dressed to represent the Queen of Hearts, and Henry B. Reynolds, a Freshman, represented Cupid. Each guest provided at least one original, hand-decorated valentine for some other guest. The occasion was a very pleasant one. In the fall of 1896, a new four-year course of study was adopted and started. The course has continued to be four years to the present time. During the summer, the seats in the two chapels had been changed to face east, where the rostrum was now placed. It gave the rooms a very different look. The library was equip- ped with all the leading magazines for the reading table. This table, a long one of quartered oak, had been the gift of the Adelphic Debating Club. The magazines were furnished fpartly bythe societies and partly by voluntary contributions from otherstudents. This provision orthe reading table continued about three years. As the library books were in open cases at that time, bank railing with a gate in the center was placed in front of the cases. A student acting as assistant librarian spent his study periods in the library, getting books from the shelves, as needed, and having supervision of the reading table. The registration in chemistry was 100 in 1896. That necessitated a larger laboratory than one accommodating twelve at a time. The gymnasium therefore was converted into a chemical laboratory with accommodations for twenty-eight at once. This room, well equipped, was opened in November. Miss Herrick had charge of the chemistry and physics departments and inspired unusually good work. Many fine machines were constructed by the physics students, the handiwork of Augustus Alba, Albert McHenry, and Walter Ford, nephew of Dr. Ford of Elmira College, being especially noteworthy. Walter Ford constructed a rheostat that reflected great credit upon his skill. Other machines that might be mentioned are a steam engine, an electric motor, a commutator, and an electroscope.

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1899 1899 1899 1899 1900 1900 1900 thusiasm over this team led to the organization again of an Athletic Association, with forty- seven members. Later this dwindled until the year 1901 '02, when the membership increased to one hundred twelve. A Mandolin Club was organized in E. F. A. February 24,-1899, under the leadership of Edward Briggs. This Club, consisting of two violins, two banjos, one guitar, and six man- dolins added greatly to the attractiveness of the rhetorical programs and other school entertain- ments. Later it was under the direction of Abraham Lande, who had been a member of the club from its inception, and who was graduated from Roosa's violin school the Saturdag before his graduation from the Academy in 901. The club disbanded when Mr. Lande left . F. A. When school opened September 13, '99, recitation rooms 22 and 23, the latter occupied by the teachers' training class, were given up to the Seniors, who sat there instead of in chapel. 'Ihe training class was moved to No. 2 school. The Seniors were put upon their honor, being without supervision. It became necessary to convert the library and the museum into recita- tion rooms. The geological collection was therefore moved into the former chemistry lab- oratory- now Room 30 and 26 was seated for classes. The bank railing in the library had been removed and glass doors fitted to the cases. Benches were placed diagonally across the libraryr- Room 25---the teacher's desk being in the northeast corner. The reading-table was placed in the front of chapel on the boy's side and used for reference books: the magazines were given up The encyclfapaedia case was moved to the space between the doors of 25 and 26, and a row o seats was adde close to the wall between the doors of 24 and 25. Aisles were narrowed to what one stout fellow called a fat man's misery. For the sake of some students that wished a wider knowledge of Shakespeare's plays than the English course provided for, Miss Godfrey organized a Shakespeare Club November 23, 1899. The plays were read in character, discussions and questions following each act. The club brought out some excellent elocutionary ability, Rees Pugh's and Earle Hart's work being conspicuous. The club was continued for two years, its membership numbering twenty-four the first year and forty-two the second. There have been several short lived school papers in the history of the Academy, but the Vindex, has evidently come to stay. In the fall of '99, a prominent local paper contained some anonymous slurs upon the student body. At an indignation mass-meeting of students, Prin. Evans suggested that the school have its own paper to defend its rights, and name it the Vindex, the Latin for defender. The suggestion was acted upon. Prin. Evans selected, from each class, a few students whose English work indicated their fitness for newspaper work. From the nominations thus made, each class voted for its proper number of representatives on the Vindex board. Election entitled the successful candidate to a position on the beard until his graduation. This scheme provided for experienced editors and managers. Cecil J. Swan, 1900, was the first editor-in-chief and William T. Rathbun, '01, the first business manager. The initial number was published in December, 1899. The paper is therefor in its ninth year of successful publication, and the training received by its editors has prepared several of them for editorial work on College papers. Lewis Henry, editor-in-chief in 1904, was conspicuously successful in editorial work at Cornell, and Neil Cranmer of '06 is now making good at Syracuse. The Class of 1901, as juniors, gave a reception to the faculty, post-graduates, and seniors, February 14, 1900. The Club room was elaborately decorated with hearts for the occasion, one corner being devoted to a Post-office for original Valentines. The Juniors were royal entertainers. In connection with the graduation in june 1900, one student's record is worthy of special mention. John C. Robertshaw finished the fours years' classical course in three years, with an average of 97 per cent for the entire course. After graduation from Cornell he was for four years a member ot the Academy faculty, and is now holding twice as good a position, financially, as teacher of classics in the Jersery City High School. At the close of the school year '99-1900, Prim vans resigned to accept a more lucrative position as principal of the High School in East Orange, N. J., where he still is. The reg- istration had doubled in the tive years of his principalship. In many other ways the school's growth had been equally noticeable. Mr. Evans's departure caused sincere regret, tempered only by the fact that our loss was his gain. Yet, though the change was promotion for him, the Elmira school holds a warm place in his memory, and East Orange students have often heard of this best school of the Southern Tier.